T-Mobile Announces Wi-Fi Roaming with Six Wireless Carriers

T-Mobile(R) HotSpot(SM) today announced its participation with the WBA in a series of roaming agreements with six other major international wireless operators. T-Mobile USA subscribers will now be able to use their Wi-Fi subscription at more than 11,500 Wi-Fi locations.

T-Mobile(R) HotSpot(SM), the nation's largest carrier-owned Wi-Fi network and a founding member of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), today announced its participation with the WBA in a series of roaming agreements with six other major international wireless operators.

T-Mobile USA subscribers will now be able to take their Wi-Fi subscription to the participating WBA carrier member countries. Together with existing roaming arrangements, subscribers can now experience world-class wireless broadband with access to information, communications and entertainment at more than 11,500 Wi-Fi locations within the following countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the United States.

This announcement further reinforces the on-going leadership of T-Mobile HotSpot and commitment to its customers. T-Mobile HotSpot already provides its United States customers with a world-class, carrier-grade Wi-Fi experience which includes: 24/7 customer service; a Wi-Fi sniffing Connection Manager for ease of use; a T-1 or better network infrastructure; a best-in-class venue partner network; and industry-leading 802.1x security. Now, subscribers can roam at even more international locations.

Participating WBA members include: BT Group (UK), Telecom Italia (Italy), Maxis (Malaysia), NTT Com (Japan), StarHub (Singapore), Telstra (Australia), T-Mobile USA (USA) and, through existing arrangements, the European operating companies of T-Mobile in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is expected that additional international carriers in Europe and Asia will join in the roaming arrangements in the near future, further broadening the WBA footprint into which T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers can roam with a single Wi-Fi account.

T-Mobile HotSpot US subscribers will be able to benefit from these international roaming arrangements at no additional charge through the remainder of 2004. Prices for international roaming in 2005 and beyond will be determined at a later time.

"This announcement redefines the way that international travelers will stay connected while traveling internationally," said Kyong Yu, chairman of the WBA. "For the first time ever, the customers of our participating carriers will be able to roam across broader international Wi-Fi networks with one Wi-Fi account. These roaming arrangements set the standard for a uniform and consistent approach to international roaming that should help drive widespread adoption of Wi-Fi."

Formed in March 2003, the WBA is one of the pioneers in Wi-Fi/WLAN services collaboration and is focused on improving five key areas for wireless broadband consumers: Global Coverage, Confidence in Quality, Reliability, True Mobility and Good Customer Experience.

Speaking from San Francisco International Airport, where T-Mobile is serving as host for the WBA's annual partner conference, Joe Sims, vice president and general manager, T-Mobile HotSpot said, "Our customers, on average, make more than three international trips per year. These historic roaming arrangements allow our subscribers to stay connected internationally using their familiar T-Mobile HotSpot account. Additionally, Wi-Fi users from participating WBA carriers can now roam into our world-class network of more than 5,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations in the U.S."

T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers wishing to login at an international WBA location must first launch their browser, at which point they will be presented with the WBA member's roaming login page. Next, they should click on, or select, the "roaming" link and choose T-Mobile HotSpot U.S. from the list of roaming partners. When prompted, they should enter their T-Mobile HotSpot user name and password. However, if they are a T-Mobile HotSpot customer in one of T-Mobile's European operating countries, they should use the following format when entering their credentials: username@t-mobile.us.

T-Mobile HotSpot is a founding member of the WBA and is the only US-based member.